616 Tasting Notes

The hope here was to find a method of drinking the Cococaramel Sea Salt that I enjoy, because I still have just over an ounce of it left. This wasn’t my answer. I might try again switching the Caramel Apple to be the larger leaf amount, but the licorice root and anise in the Cococaramel seem to be incredibly dissonant with everything ever (including the original tea itself), so I’m not holding out hope. It might end up getting tossed into the swap pile yet.

I’m not gutsy enough to put boiled water over matcha, so that didn’t happen. But I needed a caffeinated pick me up to drag me through the rest of the day, so what than genmaicha with an extra dose of matcha for good measure.

The matcha adds a gentle sweetness that compliments the nutty roastiness of the genmaicha. It’s very slightly brothy, but not quite as much so as I was expecting.

The matcha flavor in this one isn’t as potent as American Tea Room’s Genmaimatcha, which is my typical go-to genmaicha with matcha, but it is a slightly sweeter matcha. At just over half the price though, I might have to swap my go to genmaicha in this direction.

Not going to lie, I totally bought this one one whim for the 12 Days swap back in December and hoped for the best. This was one of my best ‘cross my fingers and hope for the best’ purchases. The only thing that could please me more was if I had gotten more than 1.5 ounces for the price point. It comes in a cute resealable cardboard tin though, so I’ll forgive a bit of that.

The blueberry flavor is natural and ever so slightly tart. It might actually be the best blueberry flavor I’ve found in a white tea yet. The white tea comes through with it, and is a pretty decent tasting peony, despite the slightly smaller leaf size (and couple of twigs I’ve found). It’s a little vegetal, a little floral, and naturally sweet. It pairs to the blueberry with perfection.

I would be more than happy to send out another package, though! I have more than enough left. Best case scenario they both show up, but at least this way we know for sure at least one hasn’t blitzed into another dimension.

I have two very, very happy birds today. I’m running the self-cleaning cycle on the oven (had a sticky accident with the foil pouch I made while oven braising some ribs last night), and the whole first floor is about 2-3 degrees warmer than it would be otherwise, and they like it about 72 in here (but Fiance won’t let me keep it there) so this works great for them. They also got fresh millet, so there’s that too.

Today’s adventure in Chocolate tea was brought to you by my Bailey’s Vanilla Brown Sugar Coffee Creamer, because I wouldn’t have reached for it without it. It’s a relatively mild black base (fickle like most of Adagio’s). There really isn’t anything here that screams chocolate, but there’s a definitely cocoa flavor and at least it’s not chemical tasting either. The creamer smooths it out, adds an element of sweetness and vanilla, and makes it creamy, which brings it closer to reminding me of chocolate, but it’s just not hitting the spot. I’ll have to mix this with some other teas and see what happens.

So this was the last of this tea. It’s a bit of a bummer because there aren’t too many tart herbals I even remotely enjoy, and I don’t actually know how to re-obtain this one. I might have to send an inquiry Adagio’s way.

For now, I’ll just have to get my GoT kicks from talking about the books with Fiance, (He finally finished them a bit ago. I love fan theories and desperately needed someone to talk to.), waiting for Season 4 (hurry up, please), and possibly ordering some fandom blends.

So, I still haven’t gotten around to trying this one with coconut milk, and I probably won’t. I think there’s only a cup’s worth left and I don’t think it’s worth repurchasing.

On one hand, I really enjoy it. The coconut is sweet and creamy, and the lemongrass is a nice lightening note. The ginger and cardamon add a nice chai spiced warming note. It’s a pretty nice coconut chai overall. On the other hand, I cannot possibly see myself drinking enough of this before the coconut goes suntan lotion flavored on me.

I did like it more this time, than last time (I think I added a touch more sugar this time; 1 tsp for 8 oz), but I’m not blown away.

When I’m trying to avoid the mess on the stove, I’ll heat up 6oz of milk, add a tsp or so of sugar and make concentrated tea (2 tsp in 2oz of water in this case) then combine in my cup. So that’s what I did here.

I quite like this one. I do think it’s perfect for autumn, but with the roasted chestnuts I also think it fits any cold, blustery day (like this one).

The tea is the dominant flavor, with the rest of the flavors balanced on the side. The tea is mild and slightly malty, there’s no bitterness or astringency and with the creamy vanilla feeling and flavor it goes down really smooth. The chestnuts aren’t as prominent as I might have likes them, but they do add a definite chestnut flavor, and a nice toasty nuttiness.

I dog sat for my mom a couple days back and got a little overzealous with petting them and getting snuggly (I’m allergic), so I’ve had some sinus pressure for the last couple days. I didn’t really think to do anything about it because it’s an annoyance more than anything and I know it’ll clear up in a couple days on it’s own. But then I saw the little one cup sample I had of this.

This brews up smelling strongly of peppermint and eucalyptus. The dominant flavor is definitely peppermint, so if you’re not a peppermint person, this probably isn’t the fix for you. There’s orange in here, but it’s so subtle it’s easy to miss. This reminds of how I feel after I use a Vicks humidifier (need to replace ours). I don’t know how well this would work on an actual cold, but it seems pretty good at dissipating lingering allergy congestion.

I’m not going to give this one a numerical value, because I get that it’s medicinal and taste really isn’t the priority. I wish I could remember who sent this my way, because thank you. I feel better today than I thought I was going to. I almost want to pick some of this up for my week long dog sitting venture at the end of February.

This one smells just like delightful caramel! There’s big rolled balls of what I think are supposed to be caramel in it, as well as popcorn. It looks awesome.

Too bad it’s kind of gross. While I didn’t quite get straight dishsoap like TastyBrew did, I got something soapy, chemical and unnatural tasting that I can’t say I like at all. I managed about three sips before the cup went down the drain. It’s in those little caramel balls. They looked so intriguing I took the slightest nibble on one. They taste like salted hot, soapy plastic. Blerg.

I would totally buy this. Please let me buy this. I never say this about hibiscus blends!

I really like this cold steeped for 8-16 hours with 1/2 tsp rock sugar for my 16 oz thermos. There is so much hibiscus in the blend that just poofs and leaves the fruit flavors when it’s steeped this way. I get both the orange and apple flavors, and the hibiscus adds an element of tart, but there’s no coppery aftertaste or anything that makes me immediately go ‘Hibiscus! Boo Hiss.’ It reminds me a lot of unsweetened fruit juice (if the fruit had hardly any natural sugars).

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Bio

Intro:

Name: Lauren
Location: Wisconsin (previously a Chicago girl)
Occupation: Student by day and super hero by night
Super Hero? Yep!
Which One? I can’t tell you that! Secret identities and such. Just know I’m not the hero they want, but the hero they need.
Sidekicks: Fiance and two budgies, Skitter and Gandalf

I grew up in a family where the only working coffee maker was in my dad’s office. So the name of the game for my mother and I quickly became (bagged) tea. In 2004/2005, I discovered Adagio Teas. I don’t remember how it happened, or why I decided to pursue a purchase but here we are. I haven’t looked back.

My tea tastes have changed over time and I’ve moved from liking solely flavored teas (mostly black and white) to enjoying Darjeelings primarily, though malty unflavored blacks, fresh tasting greens, and lightly oxidized oolongs come in pretty high on my list, too. Of course, I still enjoy a good cup of flavored tea. I prefer caffeinated teas, as I have a horrible caffeine addiction that I don’t plan on kicking any time soon.

Red rooibos and lapsang souchong (or other strongly smoky teas) are my arch nemeses and I will see them defeated and removed by force from my cupboard. Like all thing, there are exceptions, but I assume they’re guilty until proven innocent.

I really don’t like negatively rating things, because I feel like if you don’t have something nice to say, you probably shouldn’t say it. But in the interest of non-biased tea reviews I’m going to give it a shot. I view every tea as a potential adventure so I’ll try most things at least once.

I love trading and swaps are always welcome! Please note, though, what it in my cupboard includes amounts ranging from a couple cups to 4 ounces or more, so please PM me to find out if what you’re seeking is available in that trade amount.

According to my spreadsheet, I also have about 100 other 1-4 cup samples that are not in my cupboard.. Feel free to message if you’re interested in see the spreadsheet for possible swap options as well.

Tea Ratings:

100-95 Nectar of the teagods that has been bestowed upon my unworthy tongue. I will never let this tin run empty.

86-94 These are the teas I would like to keep regularly stocked, but sometimes life gets in the way. Lovely teas, but not quite god tier. I still get cravings for these.

74-85 Good teas, but not amazing. I enjoy these, but may or may not restock once they run out. I would still recommend these to others.

60-73 Not bad. I’ll gladly keep drinking my cup, and wouldn’t say no if someone offered me this tea. I probably won’t rebuy these as there is likely something else that is comparable and better.

47-59 Certainly drinkable and might even have some characteristics that I enjoy, but I won’t pick it up again